Court rejects injunction sought against OCN thriller ‘Save Me 2’

Ongoing drama Save Me 2 has recently been involved in a legal battle against the Christian Council of Korea, a cooperative organization of Christian denominations that formally filed a case in court to stop the broadcast of the drama.

The said group was seeking an injunction against Hidden Sequence, the drama’s production company, and media giant CJ E&M which owns OCN, the drama’s broadcaster. It did so arguing that Save Me 2 undermined the reputation of its organization and infringed upon the freedom of religious activities by misusing the “cross” and the value of “belief,” which particularly misrepresents the Protestant faith.

However, the Seoul Central District Court dismissed their request and stated that preventing the drama from airing is itself a form of infringement that restricts freedom of expression and violates the Constitution. It also remarked that a “reasonable viewer” can fully recognize that Save Me 2 is a work of fiction and thus will not truly accept the drama’s contents as true.

Save Me 2, the loose sequel to Save Me (2017), is a thriller that follows the struggle of a former judo athlete, played by Uhm Tae-goo, to fight a religious cult that has wreaked havoc on his home town. The series portrays the leader of this cult (Chun Ho-jin) as a very dangerous man who is showing a friendly facade to prey on people. Esom and Kim Young-min are also starring in the drama.

Save Me 2 airs every Wednesday and Thursday at 11 p.m. on OCN. It premiered on May 8 and is now on its third week of broadcast. Its most recent and fifth episode obtained a nationwide TV rating of 1.7%, which represents an estimated 405,000 viewers according to Nielsen Korea.

Samfann is a writer and editor for Kdramapal. He works closely with other writers to produce and publish online content. At the age of 21, he founded a Korean entertainment blog that went on to become a major player in the industry. He spends most of his free time watching American and Korean TV series and doing volunteer work for an online initiative that provides underserved students with grants and scholarships. He's also passionate about unique and revolutionary ideas that make the world a better place.